Henry James was an American novelist and, as a naturalizedEnglish
citizen, a great figure in the transatlantic culture. His fundamental theme was
the innocence and exuberance of the New World in clash with the corruption and
wisdom of the Old.
He was named
for his father, a prominent social theorist and lecturer, and was the younger
brother of the pragmatist philosopher William James. They were taken abroad as
infants, were schooled by tutors and governesses, and spent their preadolescent
years in Manhattan. Returned to Geneva, Paris, and London during their teens,
the James children acquired languages and an awareness of Europe few Americans
had in their times. When he was 19 years of age Henry enrolled at the Harvard
Law School, but he devoted his study time to reading Charles-Augustin
Sainte-Beuve, Honoré de Balzac, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. His first story
appeared anonymously two years later in the New York Continental Monthlyand his
first book reviews in theNorth American Review.
By his mid-20s James was regarded as one of the most skillful writers of short stories
in America.
James began
his long expatriation in the 1870s, heralded by
publication of the novel Roderick
Hudson(1875), the story of an
American sculptor’s struggle by the banks of
the Tiber between his art and his passions; Transatlantic Sketches, his first collection of
travel writings; and a collection of
tales. With these three substantial books, he inaugurated a career that saw
about 100 volumes through the press during the next 40 years. In 1878 he
achieved international renown with his story of
an American flirt in Rome, Daisy Miller, and further advanced his reputation with The Europeans that same year.
James’s
reputation was founded on his versatile studies of“the American girl,” and he
ended this first phase of his career
by producing his masterpiece, The
Portrait of a Lady(1881), a study of a young woman from Albany who brings
to Europe her narrow provincialism and pretensions but also her sense of her
own sovereignty, her “free spirit,” her refusal to be treated, in the Victorian
world, merely as a marriageable object. As a picture of Americans moving in the
expatriate society of England and of Italy, this novel has no equal in the
history of modern fiction.
Subsequent
works were many. In The
Bostonians (1886) and The
Princess Casamassima (1886),
his subjects were social
reformers and revolutionaries. In The
Spoils of Poynton (1897), What Maisie Knew (1897), and The Turn of the Screw (1898), he made use of complex
moral and psychological ambiguity. The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903), and The Golden Bowl (1904) were the great novels of the final phase of his
career, all showing a small group of characters in a tense situation, with a
retrospective working out, through multiple angles of vision, of their drama.
In these late works James resorted to an increasingly allusive prose style,
which became dense and charged with symbolic imagery.
In his later
years, James lived in retirement in an 18th century house at Rye in
Sussex, though on completion of The
Golden Bowl he revisited the
United States in 1904–05 James
had lived abroad for 20 years, and in the interval America had become a great
industrial and political power. On
his return to England he wrote The
American Scene (1907),
prophetic in its vision of urban doom, spoliation, and pollution of resources
and filled with misgivings over the anomalies of a “melting pot” civilization.
He devoted three years to rewriting and revising his principal novels and tales
for the highly selective “New York Edition,” published in 24 volumes. For this
edition James wrote 18 significant prefaces, which contain both reminiscence
and exposition of his theories of fiction. Throwing his moral weight into
Britain’s struggle in World War I, James became a British subject in 1915 and
received the Order of Merit from King George V.
Passive Sentences
1. 1. When he was 19 years of age Henry enrolled at
the Harvard Law School,
In
this sentence, he was 19 years of age Henry enrolled is
considered to passive sentence because it has pattern auxiliary be (was) + entrolled (v3), the subject is Henry. It is included into past tense.
2. 2. James was regarded as one of the most skillful writers of short stories
in America.
In this sentence, James was regarded as one of the most
skillful writers is passive sentence because it has pattern auxiliary be (was) + regarded (v3), the
subject is James. And it is includes
into past perfect tense.
3. 3. James began his long expatriation in the
1870s, heralded by publication of
the novel Roderick Hudson(1875),
In this
sentence, heralded by
publication is passive sentence because it has pattern heralded (v3) + by-phrase, and the subject is Expatriation.
It is includes into past tense.
4. 4. James’s reputation was founded on his
versatile studies of“the American girl,”
In this sentece, was founded is passive sentence because it has auxiliary be (was) + founded
(v3), the subject is James’s
reputation. This sentence includes into past perfect tense.
5. 5. he revisited the United States in 1904–05 James had lived abroad for 20 years,
In this sentence, had lived is passive sentence because it has auxiliary be (had) + lived (v3) which is the past participle of the
verb 1, live. The subject is James. And
this sentence includes into past tense.
Active Sentences
1. 1. he devoted his study time to reading
Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Honoré de Balzac, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
From this sentence devoted is considered into active sentence, reading which is verb+ing, the subject is He and this sentence is includes into simple past tense.
2. 2. he inaugurated a career that saw about 100
volumes through the press during the next 40 years.
In this sentence during is an active word in this sentence, inaugurated is also an active word, this sentence is includes into past perfect tense.
3. 3. he made use of complex moral and
psychological ambiguity.
Made
use in this sentence is an active sentences, the
subject is he and this sentence
includes into simple past tense.
4. 4. On his return to England he wrote The American Scene (1907),
Return
is an active word from this sentence, wrote is verb 2 from write also an
active word, and this sentence includes into past perfect tense.
5. 5. For this edition James wrote 18 significant
prefaces, which contain both reminiscence and exposition of his theories of
fiction.
From this sentence wrote is an active word, and the subject is James. This sentences is
includes into past perfect tense.
